Automatic fire-escape.



W. E. PAYNE & W. S. EKLUND.

AUTOMATIC FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION man DEC-27. 1913.

1 136 A36 Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

THE NaRRls PETERS Ca. PHDTOLITHOH WASHINGTON. 0. C

w. E. PAYNE & w. s. EKLUND;

AUTOMATIC FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED 050.27. 1913.

1,136,36- P ented. Apr. 20, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT2.

WZTQ w WSZEKZund.

THE NORRIS PETERS C PHOTO-LITHCL WASHINGTON, D. C.

32 I? a. 3mm;

WILLIAM EDWIN LPAYNE AND WALFRID S. EKLUND, 0F BONNER, LOUISIANA.

AUTOMATIC FIRE-ESCAPE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented A nea, 1915.

Application filed December 27, 1913. :Serial No. 809,014.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, WI LI M E. PAYNE, a citizen of the United States, and VVALFRID S. E L 'ND, a subject of the Emperor of Russia, residing at Donner, in the parish of Terrebonne and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Fire-Escapes; and we do'hereby declare the following to be a full,clear,

and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled injthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

I This invention: relates to the type of fireescapes comprising a reel having automatic means for governing its unwinding and rewindingit, '1 p a p f This invention further aims to improve 2 devices of the above mentioned character so as to render them more p'ractical, durable, reliable and efiicient in operation, cheaper to manufacture and more'commercially desirable.

The above and additional objects are accomplished by such means as are illustrated I in theaccompanying drawings, described in the following specification and-then more particularly pointed out in the claims which are appended hereto and form apart of this application. f 1

With reference to the drawings,fwherein we .have illustrated the preferred embodiment of our. invention as it is reduced to f practice, and throughout the several views of which, similar referencenumerals desig-V nate corresponding parts, Figure 1 i's'a front elevation illustrating the device in assembled 7 position, Fig. 2 isa bottom plan view, Fig. 3

' is a side elevation, Fig. 4 is a detail view of the governing means illustrating it partly in 7 section, Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation of the governing means showing the central portionthereof in section, Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view taken on line 6-6- of Fig.1

illustratingthe rope guiding means, Fig. 7 is a detail elevation of the rope guide means, Fig. 8 is across sectional view illustrating the detail construction and arrangement of I :the rope guiding means, and Fig. 9 is a transverse sectional View taken on line 9 9 .of Fig. 1 illustrating the spring means for rewinding the cable upon the drum;

Referring to the drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employedto designate correspond-.

ing parts,'t he numeral 1 designates as an entirety a preferably rectangular skeleton frame work uponwhich the operating mechanism forming a part of the invention is mounted after a manner which will be later more fully described. Rotatably journaled in bearing standards 2 and 3 that are carried I upon the ends of the frame 1 is a winding drum 4 providedwith the usual end flanges 5. and formed of the usual cylindrical shape.

This winding drum 4 is rotatably mounted upon a fixed shaft 6 secured at its terminals in the bearing standards 2 and 3. lVound upon the drum 4 is a suitable rope or cable 7 secured at one terminal in any suitable manner to the drum and provided with a loop 8' at its other terminal that is adapted to hang below the drum and be grasped by persons or a person seeking escape from a burning building by fdescending to the ground.

Themain frame 1 is provided at suitable places with bolt openings 9 by means of which the device may be secured to the wall of a building at a convenient point near a window preferably above the window frame upon the outside or inside ofthe building wall so that the end 8 of the cable 7 is in a position where it may be readily grasped for operationl The'avinding drum 4 is providedwith a longitudinal end opening aperture 10 in which is mounted a plurality of flat coil springs 11. Suitable cylindrical casings maybe provided for the springs and the [terminals of the springs are secured asat 12 to the inner face of the winding drum 4 and to a collar 13 fixed upon the fixed shaft 6, respectively, as. will be clearly seen with reference to Fig. 9 in the drawings. These springs ll-are arranged-to wind up when a person or persons is making a descent that is, when the cable 7 is unwinding from the drum 4, and are further adapted to rewind the cable 7 .upon the drum 4 automatically, upon the release of the weights upon the cable 7. I v

, It has been found necessary to provide some means for rewinding the cable 7 upon the drum 4 in even layers, and in this connectionthere has been provided upon the lower'terminal of the frame 1 an approximately U-shaped supporting arch or like structure 14. Mountedupon opposite sides Of U-shaped supporting loracket are shaft 40 so thatit is' interposed between the governing mechanism 34 that is mounted The governing mechanism 35. is operatively connected with or mounted upon the shaft 7 45 and is operated through the medium of the gears 41, 42,.43 and44 after a manner which will be later more fully disclosed.

The governing mechanism 34 consists of a circular disk 46 that is of a slightly less diameter than the gear wheel 43 and is adapted -to bear against the outer faceof the gear 43 and is further loosely mounted upon the shaft 40. This disk 46 is provided with a hub 47 in which is formed an angular slot or groove 48 that is adapted to receive a pin 49 fixed upon the shaft .40. r The arrangement of the pin. 49 and slot 48 is to cause therotationofthe gear 43 upon the unwinding of the drum. 4 and to hold the gear 43 against rotation when the cable is rewinding, consequently preventing operation of governor 35 as willbe clearly seen with reference to Figs. 1 and 2-in the drawings. A helical spring 50 is mounted upon theshaft 40 and held in position thereon by means of a transverse securing pin 51, adapted to engage the hub 47',and aid the .pin and slot arrangement in forcing the disk 46 into engagement with the adjacent face of the gear 43 to cause the same to rotate by frictional. engagement of the disk with the gear as-will be clearly seenwith reference to Fig. 1 upon the unwinding of the cable, when the: gear-43 in rotating operates the governor 35. A plurality of hingedly secured and'preferfably square vanes 52 are hingedly secured upon the duter face of the disk 46 and are held in close and approximate parallel relation to the disk by means of flat leaf springs 53 that are'secured at one terminal to the disk and bear at their other'terminals upon the outer faces of the vanes 52. outwardly in angular relation .to the disk 46 during the rotation of the disk 46 when the drum 4 is rewinding and thus, to some extent governs the movement of the drum 4.

The governing mechanism 35 that is mounted upon the shaft 45 consists of a pair of: elongated plates 54 and 55 that are mounted upon theshaft 45 and disposed at right angles thereto upon opposite sides in diametrically opposed relation to each other. Each of the plates 54 and 55 are provided with inwardly opening longitudinal end slots 56 for a purpose which will be later more fully disclosed. A cylindrical sleeve or tube 57 is mounted transversely through the shaft 45 so that the tube extends an equal distance upon each side of the center be yond the shaft at right anglesthereto. A

The vanes 52 are forced rod 58 is secured at one terminal to each of the members 54 and 55 at a. point centrally of the upper ends thereof and extends-downwardly, between the sides of the slots 56. Each of these rods 58 are adapted to be slidably mounted withinthe tube 57 to permit the sliding of the plates 54 and 55 outwardly and angularly with relation to the shaft 45 to provide the desired governing action.

A pair of coil springs 59 and 60 is mounted between the inner ends of the plates 54 and 55 and serve to return the plates to their normal positions after being moved. outwardly and turned by the centrifugal action during the rotation of the shaft 45. The springs 59 and 60 are provided with hook terminals 61 adapted for engagement with hook members 62 carried upon the inner edges of the plates 54 and 55.

V The springs 59 and 60 are arranged upon opposite sides of the shaft 45 and in being provided with the hook terminals 61 are readily detachable to provide for substitution of weaker or stronger springsas desired. The members 54 and 55'are connected with the tube 57 by means of connecting arms 63 and 64 that are provided'with socket heads 65 adapted to receive extended ball members 66 secured adjacent the ends of the'tube 57 upon one side thereof, and similar ball members 67 that aresecured upon opposite sides of the center line of the plates 54 and 55 thus providing ball and socket connection for the arms 63 and 64. These arms 63 and 64 serve to turn the members 54 and 55 angularly with. relation to ;the shaft 45 and are arranged angularly with relation to the vertical axis of the tube 57, When the members 54 and 55 are normal position; It will be apparent that. upon the rotation of the shaft 45 that the centrifugal force will cause the members 54 and 55 to be turned angularly with respect to the tube 57 upon the action of the springs 59 and 60, thus governing the speed of the rotation of the drum 4 when said drum in unwinding.

When the cable is rewinding on the drum the pin 49 and slot'48 in the governor 34 causes the disk 46 to move out of engagement with the gear 43, thus the gear 43 is not rotated and the governor 35 is not oper ated.

It has been found desirable to removably secure one of the heads of the drum 4 to facilitate the proper positioning of the mechanism within the drum for automatically rewinding it upon the release of weight upon the cable 7. The general construction of the frame 1 is of an integral formation of some suitable material such as angle iron'or the like that is provided with great strength and powers of durability. It has been found desirable in some instances to protect the same against the elements and in thisconnection it is not thought necessary to illustrate a casing orcover or descri hethe same in detail.

[Itis apparent with reference-t the fore "going description and accompanying drawings that there has been provided a fire es- I "cape which will permit the expeditious and safe descent of a personor persons desirous of escaping from a burning' building, to the -tent as to permit the safe descent of persons or a person desirous escaping from a burning building.

In reducti n to *p'raetiee, we have found that theform of our invention, illustrated in the drawings and refe'r'rdto inthe above I description, asthe preferred embodi-iiient isthe most eflicient practical; yet realizing that the conditions concurrent with theadoptionjof our devicewill necessarily vary, we desire to emphasize the fact that various minor changes in details of construction, proportion arrangement of parts may be resorted to, when required, without sacrificing any, of the advantages of'our 1n- 7 vention, as defined inthe appended claims.

What is claimed is 7 g 1. An automatic fire escape, comprising a supporting frame, a winding drum journaled in the frame and adapted to have a cable wound thereon and means for go'vern- V ing fthespeed of rotation of said winding drum when the'driim is rewindi-iig comprising a shaft rotatahly j ourn'aled in the frame,

means for operatively connectingthe shaft 7 with the winding drum to causerotatibn of 7 said shaft, a gear wheel loo'sely inou'nt'ed upon the shaft, a disk loosely mounted upon the shaft and adapted to engageone side face of-the vgear wheel, means for rotating, the disk when the drum is unwinding and rewinding, a spring mounted upon the shaft and adapted to force thedisk into frictional engagement withithe loosely mounted gear wheel to cause the same to'rotate when the cable is unwinding,a plurality of hingedly secured vanes carried on said disk, "means. for yieldingly holding the varies in close and approximately parallel r lation to the disk, .saidvan'es adapted to be movedontwardly in angular relation to the disk by atmospliereresistance during the rotationof the disk in the opposite direction during the rewindingof the "cablefa second shaft,

60 means for operatively connectingthe second shaft with the. loosely mountedgear on the first shaft, and'governing'means onthe second shaft operated by centrifugal "force during the rotation thereof, when the is unwinding.

2. In an automatic fire escape a, rotatable drum to have afcablewound thereohfmans for governing the speed er the rotation of sai'd drum when the drum is rewindiing,

means for governing the speed 6f rotation of the drum when said drum isunwinding and means for preventing operatioh of said first named governing means upon'the operation of said last named governing means.

In'testimony whereof we affix our signa turesin prese'nce of two witnesses. r

WILLIAM EDWIN lemurs (lhiiis df this patent iriay be obtained. for five cents eachby addressing the Commissioner o f l'a'tents,"

Washington. D. G. a 

